Sunday, July 29, 2018

As much as I hate comparing books, Neverworld Wake felt like a slightly-less-sciency Dark Matter (see my review) with a YA twist. There's definitely more angst and melodrama here, but with the twists and turns, the mystery-within-a-mystery, I really found it pretty spectacular.

When Beatrice was a student at the tony Darrow-Harker School a little over a year ago, she and her friends had their own little world. Even though she was on scholarship, not privileged like some of her friends, she somehow gained entry into the elite group, the cool, popular, beautiful people. And then everything changed. One night, her boyfriend Jim, a musical genius and the one member of the group that everyone was a little in love with, died mysteriously. The authorities ruled it a suicide, but Beatrice and her friends couldn't understand what would have driven Jim to kill himself.

After Jim's death, Beatrice left Darrow-Harker and her friends behind, trying to process her grief and move on with her life. She finishes her first year at college, and plans to do nothing more than help her parents run their cafe and ice cream parlor in her small Rhode Island hometown. And then she gets a text from her friend Whitley, someone she hasn't heard from in over a year. Whitley invites Beatrice up to her family's ancient home, which served as a headquarters for the group during high school. While she's afraid to drudge up her old feelings, what Beatrice wants more than anything is answers to what happened to Jim, so much to her parents' chagrin, she heads up to see her friends.

"Friendship, when it runs deep, blinds you to the outside world. It's your exclusive country with sealed borders, unfair distribution of green cards, rich culture no foreigner could understand. To be cut off from them, exiled by my own volition as I had been for the past year, felt cheap and unsettled, a temporary existence of suitcases, rented rooms, and roads I didn't know."

Seeing her friends again feels like no time has passed, but at the same time like they live in separate worlds. Beatrice feels Jim's loss acutely, feels like the dynamics of the group have changed inexorably. As much as she wants to demand answers, she goes along with their plans, which involve copious amounts of alcohol and loud music at a club. She vows to head home to her parents' in the morning. And then there is a knock at the door, a mysterious old man on the doorstep. What he has to say blows their minds.

"You're all nearly dead. Wedged between life and death. Time for you has become snagged on a splinter, forming a closed-circuited potentiality called a Neverworld Wake."

Essentially, they're going to live the same loop of time, over and over again. But there's only one way out: during the last three minutes of every wake (or loop), each member of the group must vote on the one person who will survive. Everyone else will move on to "true death." The decision must be unanimous, and until they come to a consensus, the loop will play itself out endlessly, if not forever.

As each individual tries to make sense of the reality they now find themselves in, they ultimately understand the only choice they really have is to convince the others they're the one who deserves to survive. But before that decision can be broached, they decide they should try and find out the truth about Jim's death. Of course, knowing whom to trustand trying to uncover secrets thought buriedcould have dangerous consequences, even if their sense of time is skewed. Beatrice has to decide if finding out the truth is worth the pain she may sustain.

There's a lot more to the story but it's best left to discover on your own. Suffice it to say that Marisha Pessl, whose previous books, Special Topics in Calamity Physics and the incredible Night Film (see my review), utterly dazzled me, has once again proven that her talent knows no bounds. Some weren't as enthusiastic about this book, in part because I think they expected the Pessl of
Night Film and/or aren't fans of YA like I am. But I loved every twisty, confusing, melodramatic second of this book.

We've certainly seen stories like this hundreds of times before, where our memories are tested and we discover our friends might not always have been the loyal, amazing people we imagined them to be. But in Pessl's hands, this story takes on new life. Yes, the whole concept of time and the Neverworld Wake are present, which obviously requires the suspension of disbelief, but there's so much more to thisthe flush of young love, the need to create, coping with loss, and the things we do for the strangest of reasons. There's a poignancy to this book even as it veers into The Secret History territory, and even a little bit of the movie Groundhog Day.

This won't be a book for everyone, but here's what I know: I would willingly read anything Marisha Pessl writes. (Keep me in mind if you need a test audience!) But seriously, even if this book doesn't appeal to you, give one of her other books a shot. This is an author of immense talent, once whose stories are at once larger than life and shockingly intimate.

"We swear we see each other, but all we are ever able to make out is a tiny porthole view of an ocean. We think we remember the past as it was, but our memories are as fantastic and flimsy as dreams. It's so easy to hate the pretty one, worship the genius, love the rock star, trust the good girl. That's never their only story. We are all anthologies. We are each thousands of pages long, filled with fairy tales and poetry, mysteries and tragedy, forgotten stories in the back no one will ever read."

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Boy, there is a lot going on in this book! There was a period of time where I really wasn't sure what Kelly Loy Gilbert wanted the crux of the story to be, but in the end, this was a lovely, emotional book about the complexity of our relationships with family and friends, the destructive nature of secrets, and how self-acceptance can set your demons to rest.

Danny Cheng has dreamed of being an artist for as long as he can remember. For him, drawing is a way of expressing emotions, and conveying the way he feels about important people in his life. When he finds out that he's been accepted into the Rhode Island School of Designhis dream schoolit's unclear who is more excited, him or his immigrant parents, who want Danny to achieve successes they never had the chance to.

"We all have those things, I thinkthose things we want too badly to speak about aloud for fear someone'll swoop in and tell us we're just dreaming, those things we hold close and fantasize about at night and swear to the world we don't care that much about."

As much as he's looking forward to RISD, he is equally anxious about life without his best friend, Harry. The two of them, along with Harry's girlfriend, Regina, are inextricably linked in so many ways, especially after Danny makes a crucial decisions with ramifications that ripple throughout the school. As the one-year anniversary of a school tragedy approaches, Danny is unsure of where he stands in his friendship with Regina and what the future of Regina and Harry's relationship will be, so he can understand what he means to Harry as well. All of it fills Danny with so much anxiety, he's incapable of expressing his feelings, and he's lost the ability to draw.

"The people who matter to you mostyou aren't always going to occupy that same space in their lives, I guess. Maybe that's what I always loved most about art, that it was a way of multiplying myself so I could feel like I was always a part of more than I really was."

Meanwhile, Danny's parents seem to be coming apart at the seams. While they've always kept secrets from him, there is definitely something major they're hiding. First he finds a taped-up box of old letters and files about a powerful California family, and he doesn't understand how they could be connected to his parents. After his father loses his job for reasons Danny only suspects, his mother becomes utterly unhinged, and after taking dramatic steps, Danny learns that there is so much he doesn't know, or understand, about his parents.

What do we do when we aren't sure we can count on those we care about the most? Is it better to find out the truth and face disappointment, or bite the bullet and see what happens? How can we make people understand the decisions we make in a split second, even if some people might get hurt in the process? Picture Us in the Light strives to answer those questions, while taking us into the mind, heart, and psyche of a complex, flawed, but loving teenager.

Even though I didn't always understand their motivations, I loved the flaws and fragility of these characters. Gilbert did a great job at capturing the jumble of anxieties, moods, fears, and victories of the typical teenager, and then she adds another layer by incorporating the extra level of pressure that Asian parents often put on their children to succeed. Quite often you feel this book in your heart, and there is a lot of emotion to be felt here.

At times I wished that Gilbert could have focused the story on Danny and his friends without the added confusion of his parents' storyline. There was so much in this book that occurred because no one would tell anyone how they truly felt, express their fears or anxieties, or ask probing questions to understand what was going on. Imagine what it was like to constantly have the characters step back from divulging a secret, asking a question, or saying how they felt. While it made the conclusion perhaps a little sweeter, it took a while for things to move.

Despite my challenges, I still found this to be a beautiful, poignant story that I can't seem to get out of my head. I wouldn't mind a sequel, honestly, because I grew attached to Danny, his friends, and family, and would love to see where life takes them.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

"It's often said that knowing who you are, or at the very least possessing a sneaking suspicion of such early in life, is a blessing. The people who share this sentiment need to write it on a piece of paper, ball it up, and then proceed to pour barbecue sauce all over it as they eat it. Early self-awareness is a blessing only if who you are comes with a support system and an education. If you don't have those, it's easy to find yourself feeling stuck and sullen. I learned a certain part of my identity very early, but it was met with a near-instant confirmation of how unwelcome that part of my identity was to those surrounding me."

At turns poignant, sharply insightful, and utterly hilarious, I Can't Date Jesus is Michael Arceneaux's collection of essays about what it's like to be a young black man growing up knowing you're gay but trying to do everything to hide it from your ultra-religious mother, your homophobic father, and a society that embraces masculinity and toughness. It's a book about self-acceptance, self-worth, and the need to live your life on your own terms, no matter what others may think or expect.

Arceneaux approaches each aspect of his life with humor and sensitivity, and a healthy dose of self-deprecation. From being recruited for the priesthood at a time when he wasn't willing to accept who he was to numerous attempts to date (or even just hook up), from coming out to friends, family, and his mother, to his struggles with self-esteem (especially his hair), he doesn't play it all for laughs, but he's not afraid to tell it like it iseven his encounters which left him attacked by fire ants and maybe even fleas.

"The pattern that required my real attention was my turning to sexually confused men for sexual exploration. It was like my turning to someone who can't figure out 'there,' 'they're,' and 'their' to edit your essay."

The book delves deeper than simply exploring a man's journey to find himself and his place in the world. It's also a look at our current political situation, as well as a paean to his ultimate savior, Beyoncé. With each essay he makes you laugh, but he also makes you feel and he makes you think about things a little bit differently than you might have when you started reading.

There were times when this book absolutely clicked for me, times when I thought, "Yep, that happened to me," or felt the same embarrassment or emotions that Arceneaux recounted. At other times I couldn't quite identify, since while I faced my share of bullying and disapproval related to my sexuality when I was growing up and moving into adulthood, those feelings weren't also couched in the expectations of an entire race or the devotion of religion.

Arceneaux's voice is so vivid in this book; it almost felt like he was reading the essays to me at times. (I'd imagine if he reads his own audiobook it would be quite fun to listen to.) While he has faced many challenges in his life, in part, they made him the insightful, emotionally astute, and funny-as-hell person he is today, and I'm thankful he was willing to share his story with us.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

"I'm only twenty-six years old. I'm not sure how it happened. Actually, I know exactly how it happened. Unreasonable immigrant parents, a life is short attitude, and a mouth I can't seem to fully control. I've been trained since birth to get what I want; now I use this "skill" to get my bosses whatever they want. I've made it into the inner circle."

What Sophia Young wanted more than anything was to be a cheerleader for the Golden State Warriors basketball team. But for her status-conscious, overprotective Chinese parents, that was absolutely not an option. So she opted for the career path she was expected to takefinding a job where she would have the chance to meet a handsome, rich man who could provide a good life for her, so she could quit her job, get married, and have children.

After getting fired from her first job for her outspokenness, she became a paralegal at a law firm in the midst of the technology sector. She unexpectedly realizes how much she likes her job, how much her boss depends on her (and tolerates her snarky attitude), and how great it feels to actually be part of something. Sure, she's working crazy hours, which is making it impossible to have a real romantic relationship and it's wreaking havoc with her health, but much to her parents' dismay, she wants to be a working woman.

When she crosses paths with Scott Kraft, the eccentric Steve Jobs-ish CEO of Treehouse, a studio looking to change the world of animated films, she is offered the chance to be Treehouse's head of investor relations, a position right in the middle of tremendous excitementand stress. She finds she has an exceptional talent being a "nerd whisperer," by navigating Scott's crazy demands and mercurial attitude, and she jumps at the opportunity to help this company achieve Scott's vision. But the harder she works, she discovers that men are threatened by confident women who appear to have their s--t together, and she starts to wonder whether her initial dream of marriage and children is being replaced by her career ambitions.

Although she hits some health-related roadblocks which cause her to rethink the path her life is taking, it also forces her to realize how much she craves the high-pressure environment. Yet when she leaves Treehouse to work for inventor and engineer Andre Stark (fashioned after Elon Musk), she wonders for the first time if all of the stress and coddling high-maintenance executives is really what she wants to do for the rest of her life.

Sophia of Silicon Valley is a great book, a terrific, humorous, heartfelt look at one woman's struggle to figure out what "having it all" really means, and even if she wants "all" of it at once. Sophia is a memorable character, full of fire and moxie and far more intelligence than she gives herself credit for, and her adventures wrangling her bosses and her companies into shape are funny and utterly compelling. (Of course, maybe you, too, will wonder if speaking to her bosses the way she did in the book would really have flown, even in the days of the tech boom.)

Anna Yen does a fantastic job making you care about a character who is a little bit obnoxious at times and definitely self-centered, in the way she treats those around her, but Sophia has a good heart. There are moments you'll cheer for her, and moments you'll want to tear into the characters the way she does. It almost feels a little like the movie Working Girl.

While I understand Sophia's parents were part of the driving force for her to achieve so much, I found her parents a little too stereotypical, and I could have done without endless rounds of her mother simultaneously criticizing, haranguing, and worrying about Sophia. However, I have Chinese friends who say this behavior is utterly realistic, so what do I know?

This story of a young woman surprising everyone including herself is a great find and a terrific read. Give this one a shot!

Saturday, July 21, 2018

One of the last things a man did before he and his wife went on a Mediterranean cruise was set up a security camera at their house. Maybe it seemed a little paranoid, but better safe than sorry, right?

When he's finally able to log on for the first time, his fears are unfoundedwait, why does the living room seem brighter than when they left? Did the front door just open? He watches, aghast, as an intruder enters their house and heads up to their bedroom. While he readies for the intruder to steal his wife's diamonds (which he didn't let her bring on the cruise), he is utterly unprepared for the woman's body on their bed. Not to mention what the intruder does to the body...

The intruder turns out to be Martin Livermore, a gifted scientist who is the suspect in the abduction and murder of at least five other women. The FBI has been hunting him for a while, but he's never been this sloppy before. When he is apprehended returning to the vacationers' home for another encounter with his latest victim, the feds feel victorious, but they can't help but wonder why it seems as if he was trying to get caught this time.

Livermore once again gets the upper hand, when he refuses to speak to anyone but Alex McKnight, a former police officer and private investigator from the small town of Paradise, Michigan. McKnight has no idea why Livermore has involved him, can't figure out any connection to this murderer whatsoever. But Livermore knows too much about him, and Alex is a crucial part of a tangled, dangerous plot that Livermore is about to put in motion.

With each action, Livermore ups the stakes, and as Alex races to figure out why the murderer has drawn him into his schemes, the danger continues to grow, and it threatens to affect him in places he'd never expect. How do you catch a criminal mastermind who has targeted you, who taunts you with his crimes, and knows your every step before you take it? Alex faces off with a relentless killer, and only one of them can survive.

In a veritable sea full of thriller writers, Steve Hamilton is the real deal. He's one of the rare breed of authors in this genre who can write pulse-pounding action scenes while creating characters with depth, characters you root for and care about. Every time I read another one of his books I say the same thingI cannot understand why he isn't a household name, because his books are far superior (a little Michigan humor) to many more popular authors.

It was great to have Alex McKnight back again, but I definitely missed Paradise, and Vinnie, Jackie, and Leon. Still, it was good to see Alex have to leave his comfort zone and try and figure out his connection to Livermore. While I don't love villains who are always one step ahead of everyone else, and who can always outsmart law enforcement, Livermore was one creepy character who made me shudder. (His diversions were pretty dastardly.)

Dead Man Running is a prime example of a writer at his peak. If you've never read any of Hamilton's books, you don't know what you're missing. Whether you read his Alex McKnight series, his newer series featuring Nick Mason, or one of his standalone books, you'll see this is an author whose name you should see on books being read everywhere you look. Hopefully someday soon the world will catch on to what I've known for yearsHamilton is one of the best.

NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, and First to Read provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Friday, July 20, 2018

"It was real life now, maybe even real love, named hours before in a sort of fever, a shiny token tossed into a deep well that still glimmered from far below."

Joseph Olshan's new novel, Black Diamond Fall is both a mystery and a somewhat elegiacal look at the passions and uncertainties of love, the challenges of coming to terms with your own sexuality, how grief and anger can consume us, and having to come to terms with the end of a relationship that you don't think should end. While I believe the book works better when it concentrates on the latter issues rather than the mystery component, the mystery is core to the characters' emotions.

Luc Flanders is a student at a small Vermont college. He is a guarded, complex young man whose life was changed after he suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was a teenager. One night, after playing hockey on a frozen pond with his roommates, he realizes he lost something important to him, so he goes back to the pond to find it. He encounters someone while at the pond, and never returns.

After ensuring he didn't fall through the ice that night, everyoneLuc's parents, his roommates, his ex-girlfriend, even the policecan't figure out what happened to Luc, although many have their suspicions, especially once they find out Luc had secretly been in a relationship with Sam Solomon, an architect closer in age to Luc's parents than him. While many knew that Luc was hiding something, it is a surprise to find he had been hiding something so significant.

Sam struggles to deal with the police interrogation related to Luc's disappearance and their relationship, and he doesn't appreciate the scrutiny and suspicion from total strangers as well as people he knows well. Sam didn't want the relationship with Luc to end, didn't understand why Luc was so dead set against accepting the truth about his sexuality, why he wanted to give up a chance to truly love and be loved the way he had always longed to.

When the home of famed poet Robert Frost, not far from the college campus, is vandalized, the police investigating the incident discover some interesting links between this crime and Luc's disappearance. Are the two crimes connected? Will finding out who is responsible for the vandalism lead them to Luc's whereabouts?

When the book focuses on Luc and Sam and their relationship, and the way those around them must come to terms with it, it is beautifully written, poignant, thought-provoking, and at times, emotional. You can feel the conflicts that Luc is dealing with, torn between accepting who he is, giving in to love, or trying to live a "normal" life. You can also feel the strength of Sam's grief even though he knew inherently their relationship might not last.

I felt the mystery components were still compelling, but I wanted more Sam and Luc. However, the chapters narrated by Luc's mother and a police detective investigating Luc's disappearance are definitely readable, and you hope that everything will be solved to your liking, that none of the characters you've come to care about are responsible for any of the bad things that happened.

Joseph Olshan is an immensely gifted storyteller. His novel Clara's Heart was made into a late-1980s movie with Whoopi Goldberg and Neil Patrick Harris, and I remember being utterly moved by Nightswimmer when I read it in 1994. I'm glad to see his talent is as strong as ever with Black Diamond Fall. While at times it feels like two books in one, the fact is, you can't stop reading either of them, and at the end, you're moved by the beauty of Olshan's writing.

NetGalley and Polis Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

I'm not sure exactly how I found Matthew FitzSimmons' series of thrillers featuring former hacker Gibson Vaughn and his cohorts, but this has been a pretty terrific set of books so far. The Short Drop utterly blew me away, and while Poisonfeather didn't quite have the same magic, Cold Harbor was as "vintage FitzSimmons" as it is possible for an author's third book to be.

His newest installment of the series, Debris Line, finds the characters in a totally different setting, but it's not long before they find themselves in another heap of trouble, although this time it's not entirely of Vaughn's (or any of the others') own making.

After their last "adventure" left them being hunted by federal agentsand worseVaughn, along with Jenn, George, and Hendricks, are laying low on the beautiful beaches of a coastal town in Portugal. It's hard to quibble with gorgeous weather and scenery every day (especially when you were once held captive in a prison for quite some time), and it's nice to have peace without having to watch your back every second, but Vaughn knows that all good things must come to an end sooner than later, or they'll all grow soft(er).

His fervent pleas to his compatriots that they begin planning their exit fall on deaf ears. But when their host, a notorious drug kingpin who owes George an old debt, asks for their help in determining whether he has a coup on his hands in his massive cartel, they realize that paying the piper is the only way they'll be able to escapeif that. The group finds themselves in the middle of a massive power struggle, one with potentially disastrous consequences that could blow back onto Vaughn, Jenn, George, and Hendricks.

When Vaughn starts digging into what appears to be a textbook hijacking of a shipment, he discovers the cartel has interesting enemiesand there's far more at stake than drugs and money. But the stakes are higher than they've ever been, and the crew is as far from their comfort zone as possibleand not everyone is even sure that they should get involved. Somehow they wind up on a whiplash-inducing ride of divided loyalties, immense risk, and in one case, love might even be involved. None of these are good keys to survival, and all of them together could spell danger.

Every time I read one of FitzSimmons' books I'm reminded what a terrific group of characters he has created in this series. While Vaughn is certainly the tortured and flawed hero/anti-hero, in this book it was refreshing not to see him so hangdogat least until he realizes what a mess it is they're in. I enjoyed the way FitzSimmons dug deeper into the dynamics between the group members, tugging at some resentments which have been simmering just below the surface for some time.

This book definitely had a slow start, as the change in setting and the new cast of characters took some time to get acclimated to. Additionally, this is a book that utilized more of Vaughn's computer skills than some of the previous books, so it takes a while for the real action to get going. But when it does, well, FitzSimmons takes his foot off the brakes and just lets the story barrel downhillfast. His knack for action scenes as well as dialogue are on sharp display once again in this book.

While you could read Debris Line even if you've never read any of the other books in this series, I'd definitely encourage you to pick the earlier books first. There are mentions of incidents from the previous books, although not a lot of details, so having that prior knowledge would definitely be helpful. Beyond that, however, if you don't read the previous books, you'll be missing out on a pretty terrific series, so why do that to yourself?

Count me in for standing on line and waiting for FitzSimmons' next book, whether it's another installment in the series or not! (Given that this book doesn't get released officially until November, I won't actually stand, but you know what I mean.) Read these books!

NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Saturday, July 14, 2018

As a child in the late 1960s, her family lives at the mercy of her tempestuous mother, whose mood swings and disappearances leave everyone on edge, wondering which woman will be present each day. In the late 1970s, as she is planning a course of study in college that fascinates her, her boyfriend has other ideas, which include marriage and her moving to California with him.

As a relatively young widow in the late 1990s, she must suddenly try and figure out what is next for her life, considering her husband and children have been the ones to chart her course for as long as she can remember. And 20 years later, still seeking a purpose, she gets a completely unexpected phone call, and without warning, she finds herself heading across the country to take care of a young girl and her mother, two people she had never even met before.

While this decision uproots Willa's life and causes significant turmoil, being depended upon, even relied upon, for the first time in many years, feels tremendously fulfilling. And as she helps this family get back on its feet (literally, in one case), she feels a part of something. She has a purpose, even if it's quite simple. And in the Baltimore community, where neighbors seem to know everything about each other's lives, are willing to help each other, and treat one another like family, Willa becomes her own person.

So many books out there focus on characters in unusual circumstances, or in the midst of major upheaval or adversity. Anne Tyler's books more often than not focus on average, everyday people, living life the way they always have, when something changes. She has the ability to make a "regular" person seem much more fascinating than they might in real life, but perhaps more than that, Tyler is the champion for misanthropes, curmudgeons, and those who dither rather than make decisions.

Tyler has such an ear for dialogue. She can perfectly capture conversations between parent and child (no matter what the relationship is between them), husband and wife, siblings (close or distant), and friends. It's one of the hallmarks of her booksshe is an author who truly "gets" people, and realizes characters don't have to stop bullets with their hands or navigate great personal strife to anchor a book. That is one reason her talent has endured through the years.

I'll admit I didn't love Clock Dance as much as I hoped I would. (I tend to anxiously await each new Tyler book.) I felt as if Willa's epiphany took a little too long, and then I felt the ending of the book seemed very abrupt. But the characters, while in many cases reasonably unsympathetic, were still fascinating, and I wish Tyler gave us more of some of the supporting characters.

No matter what, any one of Tyler's books is truly a gift. Her novels are truly a testament to her talent and her fascination with the flawed beings we humans are.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Me Before You, Everything I Never Told You, The Geography of You and Me, and now, Catherine Isaac's You Me Everything, all turned me into an emotional wreck when I was reading them. (I know there are countless other books which fit this bill, but these come to mind first.)

"Everyone's future is uncertain. Most of us don't think about the fact that we could be run over by a bus tomorrow. We plod through life, taking everything for granted."

Ever since he showed up late for the birth of their son, smelling of booze and with lipstick on his collar, Jess knew Adam wasn't for her. She should have listened to him when he told her he wasn't ready to be a father, but he had told her he loved her, so she thought that would triumph over everything. But it didn't, and she was fine letting him go, even though the burden of being a single mother wasn't the easiest."

Adam has tried to be a good father to William, but it's never seemed to be his number one priority. And again, that hasn't really upset Jess too muchshe, along with her parents, have raised a handsome, well-adjusted boy. But now that William is 10, she's realized that he needs to get to know his father better. Bowing to pressure from her mother, Jess and William are heading to the French countryside to spend the summer with Adam at the hotel he operates in a restored castle.

It doesn't take long for William to become utterly enamored with his father. Adam enjoys having William there with him, but he's still not ready to give up the rest of his life for his son. He has a new, beautiful, younger girlfriend, and he doesn't quite understand that when you make a promise to a 10-year-old, he expects you to keep ityou can't just reschedule in order to spend time with your girlfriend.

Even though Jess still bears some old hurts from her relationship with Adam, she is bound and determined for him and William to grow closer, but she isn't willing to tell anyone why this is so important to her. Jess has a fear she has been hiding from nearly everyone, and she can't tell the truth, for fear she might lose everyone she loves. And as her feelings for Adam grow more jumbled the more time they spend together, she knows she has to keep him at long distance, for everyone's sake.

"When life is tough, as it will be for all of us, you have a duty to yourself. To live without regrets."

You Me Everything is one of those poignant, heartwarming tearjerkers that might not break new ground, but it's tremendously compelling. I read 90 percent of the book yesterday in just a few hours, and woke up early this morning so I could finish. Even though the plot is familiar, I found all of the characters really engaging, so I was very invested in seeing their stories through.

Isaac makes her American debut with this book, and her storytelling is tremendously assured. She does a great job with imageryyou can almost picture the French countryside where the book takes place and experience the adventures that Jess, Adam, and William go on. I was hooked from start to finish.

You won't want this one to end. This will be one of those books you need to grab quickly for the beach, the plane, the hammock, or wherever you want to devour it.

Monday, July 9, 2018

What a gorgeous, quirky, and utterly charming book! Leif Enger may have made us wait 10 years since his last book, but his newest, Virgil Wander, is definitely worth the wait.

Virgil Wander is the slightly curmudgeonish owner of The Empress, a movie theater in decline in the town of Greenstone, Minnesotawhich is also in the midst of its decline. One evening, on a snowy night in early autumn, Virgil's car goes flying off a bridge and into the frigid Lake Superior. Fortunately, the owner of the town's local salvage yard happened to be hunting for saleable wares on the shore when Virgil's car went airborne, so he was able to save Virgil's life.

Amazingly, Virgil comes out of the accident concussed, struggling with finding the correct words (particularly adjectives) and living with the memory lapses typical of those sustaining brain injuries. At the same time, he emerged with a different personality, more endearing, decisive, friendly, caringqualities which are much appreciated by the motley group of friends and townspeople who live in Greenstone.

"If I were to pinpoint when the world began reorganizing itselfthat is, when my seeing of it began to shiftit would be the day a stranger named Rune blew into our bad luck town of Greenstone, Minnesota, like a spark from the boreal gloom."

Into this broken town comes Rune, an affable Norwegian man and kite-creating magician. He came after learning that his last trip to the United States years and years ago led to the birth of a son he never knew aboutonly to learn that this son, minor league baseball pitcher Alec Sandstrom, had died, in a mysterious plane crash. Alec was a mythical figure in the small town, and his disappearance still affected many, including his widow, Nadine, and their teenage son, Bjorn.

As Rune tries to assemble a portrait of the son he never knew, and perhaps start a relationship with the grandson he didn't know he had, he and Virgil build a close friendship, with each depending on each other. But the gorgeous kites that Rune creates and flies captivate the town's residents, who feel freer, unburdened after taking a turn at the strings.

However, Greenstone has been known as a town of hard luck for many years, and it will continue to live up to its reputation. The town's residents experience tragedies, strange occurrences, and the return of a prodigal son whose presence both enlivens and frightens. And while Greenstone's residents show their characteristic resilience, they also experience moments of extreme joy and connection, all set against the gorgeous, open, Midwestern landscape.

This is a difficult book to describe, but it felt so wonderful, almost like a hug in literary form. The novel meanders a bit, and these characters are definitely Midwestern Quirky, but they are so charming and endearing. At times it almost takes on a fairy-tale quality, but it isn't fantastical or beyond the pale of reality, for the most part.

Virgil Wander is a book about rebuilding your life and finding yourself again, about fighting the battles you need to in order to move on, about friendship, family, love, and the charm of a small town where everyone knows everyone's business. Enger is a magnificent writer, as evidenced by his two earlier books, Peace Like a River and So Brave, Young, and Handsome, and he deserves a place alongside writers such as Kent Haruf.

You won't be able to get this one out of your mindor your heart.

NetGalley and Grove Atlantic provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Despite taking place in 2015, Cristina Alger's newest novel, The Banker's Wife, definitely has a bit of a ripped-from-the-headlines feel to it, without being sensationalist.

One snowy morning at an airport in London, amidst chaos caused by multiple travel delays, a couple quietly boards a private jet bound for Geneva. Not long after, the plane drops off of the radar, and later, wreckage is found in the Alps. Investigators suspect weather-related issues, despite the skill of the pilot.

One of the passengers on the plane was Matthew Werner, a banker for the powerful Swiss United, which houses countless offshore accounts for some of the world's wealthiestand most notorious. Matthew's young wife, Annabel, didn't even know Matthew was in London, and honestly didn't know much about her husband's clients or the work he did, but she knew that it paid for an opulent lifestyle beyond anything she dreamed of. But she found this life, associating with his rich colleagues, to be lonelysometimes having it all doesn't really mean having it all.

Devastated at the loss of her husband, she is unprepared for the questions that Matthew's death raises. It seems as if her husband had more secrets than she imagined, and she can't help but wonder just what they had to do with his death? Why does it seem like the investigation into the plane crash is being rushed? The more she begins to look into what her husband left behind, the more she suspects that Matthew's death might not have been an accident, and she might be in danger herself, no matter how little she actually knows.

Meanwhile, journalist Marina Tourneau has the job she's always dreamed of, as a top editor at a society magazine. But now that she's engaged to Grant Ellis, the handsome son of multi-billionaire James Ellis, the financier expected to declare his candidacy for President of the United States, it's time to leave her career behind and concentrate on being part of one of the country's richest and most powerful families. She's ready for all that life entails, but she knows she'll miss the thrill of chasing a story.

When her editor-in-chief and mentor, Duncan Sander, asks for her help on one more story, she can't pass up the chance, especially when she knows it deals with the one case which has obsessed Duncan for years. When Duncan is found dead, Marina realizes she's stepping into dangerous territory, but she knows she needs to uncover the truth for Duncan's sake. And when the truths she uncovers about the secrets that Swiss United is hiding, some of which hit closer to home than she expects, she needs to decide whether the pursuit of truth is worth sacrificing everythingincluding her own safety.

The Banker's Wife alternates between Marina and Annabel's stories, and the danger both find themselves in as they try to understand the secrets that Swiss United is hiding, and discover just how their lives are linked to it all. Even though some of this story unfolds just as you'd expect it to, Alger still throws in some twists and turns, and keeps the suspense coming.

I'm always a little dubious when companies seem to have people at their disposal whose only purpose is to spy on others and cause trouble, but it didn't bother me too much here. I really enjoyed this book and the way the story unfolded, although Alger spent a little too much time dwelling on the financial details of the plot, which made my eyes glaze over a bit. But again, the flashbacks to my short-lived foray into a college economics class didn't detract from my enjoyment of this story.

I loved Alger's last book, the very different This Was Not the Plan (see my review), but if you read her first book, The Darlings (I haven't), there are definitely some references to that book here. However, this was definitely a standalone book.

If you love compelling thrillers and seeing just how different and dysfunctional (and dangerous) the rich can be, check out The Banker's Wife. You'll be hooked!

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

One moment, Julia Swann is on the phone with her husband, Michael. He's calling from New York's Penn Station, where he's waiting to catch a train home after a job interview, but the trains are significantly delayed. Without warning, Julia hears a noise in the background and then Michael's call is dropped.

She tries not to worry, but as the hours roll by, she still hasn't heard from Michael, nor can she reach him. That evening she finds out that a major incident occurred at Penn Station which left countless people dead and injured. Julia needs to believe Michael is okay, so she decides to drive into New York City to try and find him herself. Even though the city is in the midst of massive chaos, she is determined to get answers as to where he is, and whether or not he was injured. She, like many others, puts up flyers all over the city, asking for people to get in touch with her if they see Michael.

Julia is pleasantly surprised when a woman calls her and says she may have seen Michael. But that surprise quickly turns to uncertainty and fear. Why hasn't he called her or responded to her texts? Where is he heading? Unable to get answers from the authorities, who suddenly view Michael as something other than a victim, Julia knows she must find her husband and get him whatever help he needs, even if she's not sure what to expect anymore.

Julia's efforts to find Michael are juxtaposed with her reminiscences about their relationship, from their meet-cute at a beach party just after college, to their falling in love and building a future together. She also remembers their struggles, as money problems, job struggles, and the responsibilities which come with raising children took their toll on their marriage. But Julia cannot envision a life without her husband.

"In the end, it seems like the moments we thought we messed up were nothing. And we can't even remember the stuff we really screwed up."

The Real Michael Swann is part thriller, part love story, as Julia desperately searches for her husband and for answers to the questions she is afraid to voice out loud. All of this is played out against a backdrop of national terror, political unrest, and a fractured society, all of which seem eerily too real in today's world.

I enjoyed this book and found it grabbed me from the start, although at times it moved a little slower than I expected. There are some other plot points that I didn't want to mention for fear of spoiling them, so hopefully you don't read too many other detailed reviews which might give some of it away, but suffice it to say there is a third narrative which adds another fascinating dimension to this book.

Let yourself get immersed in this story. Bryan Reardon is a terrific storyteller and he knows when to push the suspense and when to slow it down a little bit so things don't get too intense. Definitely one of those thrillers perfect for devouring on the beach, on a plane, or in a hammock somewhere.

Followers

About Me

I'm sarcastic (in case you didn't know), slightly impatient (ha ha), a compulsive workaholic and reasonably insane. The upside is that I'm immensely passionate about life and fiercely loyal to those I care about. I'm fairly uncomplicated in that what you see is what you get, plus I lack the ability (or the tolerance) to pretend to feel differently than I do. (No poker games for me.) All in all, I'm a pretty good guy. (My grandmother always said so.)